Vancouver 2010 Olympic mascots include a Sasquatch

Drawn! ran Meomi's fabulous designs for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic mascots. They just need to add a 'frop pipe in that Yeti's mouth and all will be good.

Leave it to Canada to have a cryptozoological beastie like a sasquatch as its Olympic mascot. Earlier today Vancouver 2010 unveiled their Olympic and Paralympic mascots: Quatchi the Sasquatch, Miga the Sea Bear, and Sumi the Thunderbird.

37 Responses to “Vancouver 2010 Olympic mascots include a Sasquatch”

I assure you that I’m not just saying this to be contrary, but when I saw these critters in my morning paper, I just gritted my teeth at how incredibly lame I thought they looked. No accouting for taste, I guess …

3 mascots, 3 x the merch sales. Anyone who’s followed the ‘nucks countless uniform redesigns will feel a familiar tug on their wallet. In Van, sports is all about the merch. It’s the only way to make a profit when the rest of the endeavour is invariably substandard, I suppose.

I’m actually surprised there wasn’t a little RAVi character included, as the official rapid transit mascot.

(Full disclosure: I live in Vancouver, and it is in no way similar to the tourism advertising)

Sumi is also a mythological creature (the all are). He has thunderbird arms and bear legs. Cute button noses are the least of his physiological issues! How are his wings supposed to lift heavy bear legs?

I actually really like the look/feel of these characters, although I also feel Sumi the thunderbird is a bit of a weak-tea take on that particular myth. No beak?

I am also the teensiest bit sad that instead of a more home-grown aesthetic, Canada seems to be appropriating a Sanrio-style kawaii-culture, although I suppose there’s some relevance given Vancouver’s strong Pacific-rim demographic.

For all those people remarking about how people are complaining about them, a couple points.
VanOc’s (the organizing committee) mandate was to engage the local population and “bring back the spirit of the olympics” in contrast to Torino (which was a huge marketing exercise).

These mascots show up the hypocrisy of their goals. Like our asinine and unrepresentative logo, they are designed to sell in their millions to children. They are totally misrepresentative of who we are and what we stand for as place. The entire adult population has been given a big EF U to our taste and intelligence.

I initially supported the Olympics, but as evermore becomes a gross and crass cash grab I find myself marginalized and hostile to the whole mess.

These creatures are based on Vancouver Island first nations epistemology.

Most likely without consultation of those tribes concerning appropriateness. Cute, though.
*I initially supported the Olympics, but as evermore becomes a gross and crass cash grab I find myself marginalized and hostile to the whole mess.
*
Ok, I know we’re not on Fark, but THIS THIS THIS.

I think you need to live in Vancouver and make less than $100,000 a year to wonder why people have complaints about anything Olympics-related. Don’t get me started.

“Hereâ€™s the thing: Weâ€™re of the group of people that thinks using native symbols/icons is blatant pandering and unrepresentative of BC. In fact, we find it kind of offensive. Maybe weâ€™re just soft, but the idea of taking someoneâ€™s land, destroying their culture and then paying respect to what may remain of it by using it as a promotional tool for a sporting event is ridiculous.”